Fabulously Easy Pork Stew

I admit it; I’m a lazy cook.  I don’t mind a meal that takes four hours to prepare, as long as I don’t have to be in the kitchen the whole time. I have a lot more important things to do, such as nap and rearrange the wine bottles in the frig, just to name the top two.

Getting to the grocers to fondle fruit and stare at masked invaders counts as a travel adventure. 

Imagine my joyful surprise when I grabbed some sweet onions on sale, finished with the fruit and vegetable aisle, and found in the meat section that pork shoulders were also on sale.  I quickly laid hands on a 4 pounder and heaved it into my cart.  No idea what I was going to do with it, until on aisle 4, I met with another sale! This one a 2 for 1  for this and that canned goods.  I picked up cans of Cuban style black beans and fire roasted tomatoes.

Oh joy!  Oh rapture!  Right away a vision appeared of a quick throw together, and a free afternoon, accompanied by the melodious flow of French café music and glasses of delight wine, while said pork went to work in the oven to provide a heavenly meal.

I hear you and my three faithful readers breathing hard in anticipation of the recipe, but mostly in anticipation of the wine.  Have I failed you yet?  Mais non, mes amis!

Fabulously Easy Pork Stew

Ingredients…almost too few to mention!  

4 pound pork shoulder

1 can Cuban style black beans

1 can diced fire roasted tomatoes

1 sweet onion, diced

3 cups chicken broth (if you want it soupier, add more later)

1 tablespoon garlic powder 

Salt, pepper

Oven to 275ºF (135 ºC)

Cheese and green onion biscuits, and pickled red onions to accompany.  Recipes for these at the bottom of the page.  NOTE: Pickled red onions will need to be made a minimum of two hours before serving, or a day ahead and kept in the refrigerator.

Heat the baking oven!

Add the diced onions to a Dutch oven and add a bit of oil and lightly sauté.

For the roast, salt and pepper the pork, then slice it in four thick pieces and sprinkle on garlic powder. 

Put the pork in the Dutch oven with the sautéed onions, add the whole contents of the cans of beans and tomatoes. Cover and put in the oven for 3 hours.  (A perfect time to make your pickled red onions.) 

At the end of 3 hours, check for doneness.  The pork should pull apart easily, but if not, raise the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), recover and roast for another hour.  Don’t worry about the time too much, just test the pork!

When the pork is cooked to your satisfaction, take the pieces out, remove the fat, and chop.  Skim off fat from the cooked stew and add the meat back.  Your supper is ready to surprise those who doubted your abilities in the kitchen, and who are already salivating.

Top their bowls of stew with pickled red onions and serve with cheese and green onion biscuits.

Pickled Red Onions

2 red onions, peeled and sliced thinly

2 cups white vinegar

2 cups water

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons sea salt

3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled

1 tablespoon mixed peppercorns

1 quart jar

Put the sliced onions in the jar, add the peppercorns and garlic.  Heat the vinegar, water, salt and sugar in a sauce pan, stirring until the sugar and salt dissolve.  Pour the mixture over the onion et al in the jar. Do not put on the lid until the mixture has cooled somewhat. Let it sit for at least 2 hours or store it in the frig.

Cheese and Green Onion Biscuits.

2 cups flour (or use 3 cups gluten free flour)

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons baking powder

6 teaspoons butter, but in small chunks

1 cup or more of your favorite cheese

3 green onions chopped

1 cup milk

I use my food processor.  Add all but the milk to the food processor to mix.  Well mixed? Add the milk and mix again until the dough sticks to the sides.

Flour a surface and roll out the dough to about a thumb width thickness.  Cut into squares or rounds and bake at 450ºF (230ºC) for 12 minutes.

Have you ever cut the lawn with barber’s scissors?  I find it creatively rewarding.  You can make wonderful designs, although it may disturb the neighbors. But, I thought their lawn looked great.  Also, don’t forget the fun of re-fluffing the clothes in the dryer.  Is it against the law to drink Jameson with your morning coffee?  What if you’re at Starbucks?  Just asking.

A Tea Party With Jane

Note my genuine, small tomato paste can/cutter

Slow but sure; medium heat

Fit for Jane A and her fans

I awoke reluctantly this morning, drenched in dreams and silently yearning for another hour of sleep. My wife leaned my way and whispered she had a Jane Austen party to go to and would I make something kind of Englishy to wow the lovely ladies she hangs with.  She didn’t actually use the words “would you.”

“Sure,” I said, both because I’m a nice guy and because I’m terminally task oriented and dedicated to public service.

“I have to leave in about an hour,” she purred.  Which put the pedal to the metal on the “would you make” part of the conversation.

“Jane Austen is an interesting person in a spinsterish sort of way,” I murmured.  “Never married.  Published her novels anonymously, Sense and Sensibility being her first, and she died in 1817, at the age of 42.  Buried in Winchester Cathedral. Now please let her haunt my dreams a little longer.”

“We’re going to watch the six hour BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, but you’re not invited.”

What joy flooded my happy veins! One brief task and the scullery lad would have the rest of the day to amuse himself!  All I need do was stylishly create some biscuits, some jam, arrange them with delightful aplomb, peck the wife on the cheek, and hurry her off to the hencoop.

            With my heart aflutter I scurried to the kitchen.  Over the years, I’ve become adept at scurrying. I was named ‘Best Scurrier’ in a three county area. 

Plus, my giant culinary brain already had a plan.  What is more English than a selection of dainty biscuits, and a pot of home made apple-ginger jam?  All of that can be made in less than an hour.

You already know the biscuit recipe and if you don’t, hold out your hand, while I fetch my ruler.  2 Cups flour, 3 Tablespoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 6 pats of butter.  Blend well.  Add 1 Cup of milk to make a dough.

To turn the J.A. party into a rollicking good time, I decided to bake three flavors of biscuits:  sweet, savory, and cheese.  First, I divided the dough into three equal balls.  To one ball, I added 1/4cup of sugar.  To the second, I added a 1/2 cup of shredded cheese. (use sharp cheddar if you’ve got it)  To the final ball, I added generous portions of oregano, basil, and black pepper.  Hey, jump in and help!  Roll the balls out separately to about the thickness of your forefinger. After the sugar biscuits are rolled and cut, pat a little more sugar on top. You should come out with 6 to 8 small biscuits of each flavor.

I like to vary the biscuit shapes and for the dainty digits of the Jane A. aficionados, I made them smaller than usual.  The sweet and the savory biscuits were round and the cheese biscuits square. 

Now do your part.  Put all the biscuits on a non-greased baking sheet and slide them into a pre-heated 450ºF or 230ºC oven.  Bake for about 12-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make a very simple apple-ginger jam.  I used Pink Ladies, but would have preferred a variety more tart, such as Macintosh.  The more tart the apple, the deeper the apple flavor.  But, when you have exactly one hour, and the flames of a woman’s scorn are lapping at your heels, you use what you’re got.

            Peel, core and finely chop 2 apples.  Put them in a pan with 1 cup of white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and turn the heat to medium.  Sprinkle on powdered ginger.  Finely diced fresh ginger would have been even better. (refer to last sentence of the previous paragraph)  Stir often and watch to see that the jam doesn’t get too thick.  This can be deceptive, as the juice flows out of the apples and the sugar melts, making the jam seem runnier than it really is.  Every now and then, put of a drop or two of the jam on the counter to test the viscosity.   When the jam is as thickened as you want it, it’s ready.  If it gets too thick, add a couple of tablespoons of water.

The oven timer rings.  Tasks complete.  Now what the hell am I going to do with myself for the whole day?  Ah ha!  She carelessly left me her copy of Sense and Sensibility.

Nude Dreams

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Plants and Flowers, B & W, Inside and Out!

Plants and Flowers, B & W, Inside and Out!

My mother always had a garden and so did my grandfather, so maybe it’s an inherited green-thumb thing, although I haven’t noticed anyone staring at my thumb. 

Greenery adds something soft and gentle, both outside the house and inside.

Have plants yourself?  Do you talk to them?  I do.  I play music for them, too.  They seem to like the same kind of music I like.  Rock and Roll gives them panic attacks. Rap turns them into carnivores; anyway the Venus Flytrap seems to enjoy it.  Poison ivy does well, too.

A few times I’ve rescued plants that were not being properly cared for.  I repotted them, gave them reasons to live and they turned into grateful and graceful giants. Lately I’ve been playing French café music, starting with the soundtrack from Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris.  Do they like it?  Mais, Oui!

Plants and flowers have a lot going for them.  First thing anyone mentions is the color.  But, I’ve found plants can also share the magic of drama and for my money, no art has more drama than black and white photography.

Here are a few examples.  Not hard to do.  All of these photos came from inside and outside my house.

Chicken, Pesto, Pasta, Don’t Ya Know

Chicken, Pesto, Pasta, Don’t Ya Know

Sometimes the Italian hidden in all of us springs forth.  Last night, the floating lyrics to Arrivederci Roma and accompanying accordion set me off. 

Ah, the splendor of it!  Dreams of hillside olive groves, the unrepressed aroma of espresso, and condensed trickles of water on bottles of white wine at outdoor cafés.  In narrow streets, smells of pizza and fish markets waiving past.  The smooth, but staccato bursts of lyrical language, carried along by waving hands, and unsubtle remarks about gorgeous women flowing past. White and red table cloths, cloth napkins, polite and competent waiters with movie star looks, the purr of Vespas, and most of all, dishes whose deliciousness defies description.

So, can’t ya git some good spaghetti right here in the ole U.S. of A.?  Oh, my word, you charming, but pitifully mistaken man.  Maybe there are some good Italian restaurants here, but I have yet to find one to compare with the real thing.

And, so, regretfully, I must live on memories and pursue my own meager culinary talents.

But, there are some associated pleasantries I can employ.  Things to set the tone. Italian white wine is a good first step.  Flowery Italian music is next. A woman gently stroking my hair as she sips her wine and whispers “Baciami molto…”  This of course is the dream sequence in my already complicated dream. But, after all, it IS MY dream.

How about the food, my three, constantly hungry, faithful readers ask?  They sound as impatient as snapping alligators. 

First, I must mention, I read about a chicken salad that used most of the ingredients in my pasta dish.  But, not being able to leave well enough alone, I dropped the mayo and converted the recipe to a pasta dish.

So, here we go, on our way to delicious egg noodles (because that’s what was in my pantry), with bits of roasted chicken, home made pesto, and chopped, oil marinated, sun dried tomatoes, half an onion, half a lemon.  That’s it?  Yep. Toss some grated Italian cheese on top, if you prefer.

The Ingredients:

3 cups of roasted chicken, boned, skin removed, and shredded

1 cup of pesto (recipe below, or use a jar from the supermarket)

1 cup of oil marinated, sun dried tomatoes, well chopped. (Careful not to use too much of the oil!)

½ sweet onion, diced

1 package of egg noodles, or the pasta of your choice

juice of half a lemon

Putin’ It Together

Boil the noodles according to package directions.  Meanwhile, add the diced onion and a little olive oil to a deep frying pan.  When the onions are soft, toss in the sun dried tomatoes, pesto, and roasted chicken.  Stir well and heat through.  Squeeze half a fresh lemon over the mixture.

Drain the noodles, but save a little bit of the noodle water.  Toss the chicken mixture over the noodles and stir well.  Add a bit of noodle water to make the mixture combine.

Serve with a wedge of fresh lemon.  Hello Italy!  Goodbye hunger!

This is a meal meant to be shared around a big, noisy table, with plenty of wine!  Saluti!

Here’s the Pesto Recipe I Promised:

In a food processor, combine 2 packed cups of fresh basil leaves, ½ cup each of grated cheese, pine nuts, and olive oil.  – No fresh basil?  Use spinach.  No pine nuts?  Use any nuts you have handy.  I’ve used walnuts and roasted pumpkin seeds and both were delicious.  Taste and add a bit of salt if you choose.